


Tightrope

by teh_kris_eh



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Post-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter Friendship, Hermione Granger is a Good Friend, House Elves, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Non-Canon Relationship, Not Canon Compliant, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, POV Fred Weasley, POV Hermione Granger, SPEW | Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare, Slow Burn, Teen Romance, Triwizard Tournament
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28085187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teh_kris_eh/pseuds/teh_kris_eh
Summary: Hermione was likely right - she had a rather annoying habit of being so. A simple Aging Potion would probably not be able to get them past whatever protections Dumbledore planned to set up around whoever the impartial judge was who would be selecting the Champions.The problem with the Aging Potion, Fred reasoned, was that the effects were temporary. And, since it was simple enough to come by or brew, Dumbledore would make sure to protect against it. But if he and George could either find a way to adjust the original potion to make the effects permanent or create something of their own...Well, that idea was crazy enough that it just might work.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley
Comments: 62
Kudos: 83





	1. Mission

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Tightrope!
> 
> This story is an AU version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. You can consider this universe to be canon-compliant through Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. While this story will follow the timeline of GoF pretty closely, canon events may take place at slightly different times or may not happen at all.
> 
> Right now, I can promise weekly updates. Depending on how things go, that may be bumped up to twice weekly updates. Mostly because I am impatient and want to get content out to you all as soon as I can! :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter series, I just enjoy playing with the characters!
> 
> Thank you to PrettiestStar17 for the plunny! Thank you to LivininCorsets for being a wonderful alpha/beta and cheerleader!

_Well, it's all an adventure_  
_That comes with a breathtaking view_  
_Walking a tightrope with you_  
_(Tightrope - The Greatest Showman)_

**September 2, 1994**

\------ .F.W. ------

The title of Trizard Champion and eternal glory, while certainly intriguing, were not all that enticing to Fred Weasley. One thousand Galleons in prize money, however...

That had the potential to be life-changing. 

He and George had been kicking around the idea of starting their own joke shop for a couple of years now but had gotten much more serious about it during the past school year. They had finally moved out of the research and experimental phases with a couple of their product ideas and had started seeing success in actually producing them. 

Testing that Ton-Tongue Toffee on Harry’s pig of a cousin had been the highlight of their successes so far.

But things were not working out too well for them at the moment. 

After their successful test on Harry’s cousin, their stock had been ransacked by their mum. She had been quite thorough and had unfortunately managed to dispose of _almost_ all of it. They had thought that the lecture they received about their O.W.L. exam results a few weeks prior had been rough, but it was _nothing_ compared to the tongue lashing they received after that incident. 

Then there was the problem of funding. Their winning bet at The Quidditch World Cup would have given them the capital that they needed to move forward with more production. Except there was the _small_ problem in that the coins had disappeared, literally, out of thin air. 

They suspected that Bagman, flighty as he seemed, had simply made a mistake in paying them in Leprechaun Gold. They had sent him a letter about it already and were awaiting his owl back. 

In the meantime, their plans for production had to be put on hold. Between the two of them, they didn’t even have two Sickles to rub together. And Merlin knew that their mum would send them a Howler if they had the nerve to ask for any money. 

Dad had told her about the bet. Thankfully, she had been more relieved that they had all gotten out of there alive than she was angry about them gambling, but it had been a close call. And she certainly would remind them of that should they ask for any money.

For now, they were stuck. 

But one thousand Galleons. That kind of money could fund more production and give them at least a down payment toward a storefront. If they could find a really good deal, it may even be enough to buy a storefront outright. It would change everything. 

They needed to find a way around that age restriction.

Hermione was likely right - she had a rather annoying habit of being so. A simple Aging Potion would probably not be able to get them past whatever protections Dumbledore planned to set up around whoever the _impartial judge_ was who would be selecting the Champions. She had lectured them about it thoroughly after the Welcome Feast the previous night after complaining about how dangerous the whole tournament seemed.

She likely hadn’t realized that her lecture would only cause them to look for another solution instead of putting them off of the idea of entering altogether. Bless her.

The problem with the Aging Potion, Fred reasoned, was that the effects were temporary. And, since it was simple enough to come by or brew, Dumbledore would make sure to protect against it. But if he and George could either find a way to adjust the original potion to make the effects permanent or create something of their own...

Well, _that_ idea was crazy enough that it just might work.

It was time to get to work. But first, breakfast - and classes - he supposed. He rolled out of bed, quickly dressed, pulled his twin out of bed to join him, and together they headed down to the Great Hall. 

It was good to be back.

\------ .H.G. ------

All that anyone seemed to be able to talk about was the _stupid_ Triwizard Tournament. Hermione couldn’t believe that something as trivial as another incredibly dangerous sporting event was being talked about over the injustice that was taking place within the castle walls. 

Slave labor. 

Slave labor made their meals, tended the common room fires, and cleaned the castle. Hermione couldn’t believe that this was happening at Hogwarts, of all places. 

Harry had told her all about Dobby and how he was treated by the Malfoys. She had seen firsthand how quickly Mr. Crouch had turned on Winky after the World Cup. She couldn’t understand how this was still allowed to happen. Why did no one else seem upset by this?

And how had she not _known_? She had spent the last three years in the castle, for Godric’s sake. She had been truly blindsided to find out that house elves were being used here. 

She had been up far later the night before than she had originally planned. She was just too upset to sleep. She was also hungry, since she had refused to eat dinner at the Welcome Feast after finding out that Hogwarts had house-elves in the castle, but that was neither here nor there. 

She had to do something. 

Unfortunately, she was a bit at a loss as to what to do. She would have to make a trip to the library today when she had a break in her schedule. But for now, she took a seat at the Gryffindor table across from Harry and Ron, loaded up her plate, and quickly dug in. 

Hermione could feel their eyes on her. Looking up, she saw their amused grins and knew she was in for it. “What?”

“So...we see you decided to end your hunger strike,” Harry said, clearly teasing. 

“Well yes, obviously,” Hermione scoffed. “I realized that there are better ways for me to fight for equal rights for house-elves than refusing to eat.”

“I’m sure. And it looks like you were hungry,” Ron replied, laughing. Hermione just shrugged, conceding the point, as Professor McGonagall made her way down the table distributing timetables. Accepting hers with a smile to her favorite professor in thanks, she studied their schedule for the year.

“We’ve got a busy day today. We’re outside all morning - Herbology, then Care for Magical Creatures. Arithmancy after lunch for me while you two are in Divination.” Hermione pointed her fork at the boys. “I don’t understand why you are still taking that course. It is completely useless.” 

“Trust us, we know your feelings about Divination,” Ron said as he rolled his eyes at her. “We should actually head out soon if we don’t want to be late.”

Harry and Hermione both turned to Ron and gaped. “Since when are you the responsible one to worry about leaving breakfast on time, mate?” Harry asked with a grin. 

“Just want to save us from getting lectured by Hermione,” Ron replied. She would have been hurt if she hadn’t noticed the teasing glint in his eyes. “This actually saves us from two lectures, Harry. One about how we are wasting our time with Divination, the other about the importance of being on time to class.”

“You do realize I can multitask, right Ronald?” Hermione said with a smirk. She took a final bite of toast, gathered her bag, and stood up from the table. “I am perfectly capable of lecturing you about both topics while we walk to the greenhouse.”

Harry let out a laugh while Ron groaned. Both boys grabbed their bags and the trio headed outside for their morning lessons.

\------ .F.W. ------

Walking up to the Gryffindor table after their last class of the day, Fred, George and Lee Jordan, their best friend, slammed their bags down, startling Hermione and Ron, and drawing a laugh out of Harry as they each took a seat.

“What classes did you lot have today?” Ron asked around a bite of his dinner. 

“Defense with Moody!” Fred replied, reaching for some pumpkin juice. “How cool is he?” 

“Best lesson we’ve ever had,” George supplied. “Never had one like it.”

“What was it like?” Hermione asked, glancing up from the Arithmancy textbook she had propped up on the table. 

“It was intense,” Fred replied. “He really knows his stuff. Knows what it’s like to be out there fighting the Dark Arts. He was pretty high up in the ranks with the Aurors, so he’s seen it all.”

He watched as Harry dug through his bag and pulled out his timetable. “We don’t have him until Thursday,” Harry said, obviously disappointed. 

Fred nodded. “It’ll be worth the wait. I swear, his class was the only one that was actually worth going to today.”

Fred couldn’t help the laugh that slipped out at the look of horror on Hermione’s face after his last comment. Hermione looked like she was about to launch into another lecture about responsibility, but he continued on. 

“Don’t worry, Hermione. We’re not going to skive off all of our classes except Defense. We just have other things we would rather spend our time on right now. Like figuring out a way around the age restriction for the tournament.”

Fred shook his head at her when he saw her open her mouth to interrupt. “Which you’ve already expressed your opinion about, so no need to do it again,” he finished quickly before she could jump in, pointing his fork at her with a grin. 

She rolled her eyes at him and shrugged. “Don’t worry, I know a lost cause when I see one. Since my time would obviously be wasted worrying about you lot getting yourselves killed,” she said, looking between him and George, “I’m going to head to the library.” 

He saw Ron’s head snap up quickly. “Library?” Ron asked, confused. “What are you going to the library for? We didn’t get assigned any homework today, did we?”

“No, but I have a lot of research to do,” Hermione replied as she stuffed her book into her bag and stood up from the table. “House-elves deserve so much better than the way that they are treated. Something has to be done. And since, as I mentioned, trying to keep these two from doing something stupid like trying to enter the tournament is a lost cause, I’m going to worry about the elves instead.”

“For the record, Georgie and I aren’t the only ones. Lee is in on it too.”

“Oh no, don’t drag me into this,” Lee said, holding up his hands. Hermione scoffed, took a last sip of her pumpkin juice, and grabbed her bag. 

Fred shook his head, amused, as he watched her turn on her heel and leave the Great Hall. 

He and George had always enjoyed riling Hermione up. It was all in good fun, of course. While they definitely didn’t always see eye to eye with her, she was incredibly bright and was always good for a conversation about magical theory. That had helped them sort out ideas for products a few times. Not that they would ever tell her that - they were sure she would not approve. 

Plus, her hair got even more riotous when she was riled up. Sometimes, it seemed like it would actually spark - like her magic was coursing through it, looking for a way to escape. It was terrifying, really. But kind of beautiful, too. He just tried not to get too close when that happened. 

Turning back to Ron and Harry, his eyes lit up with mirth. “So, tell us, what is the story behind a rumor we heard earlier about a certain bouncing ferret?”


	2. Purpose

**September 3, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

Hermione slammed the book shut, frustrated. She was back in the library following the second day of classes, which normally she would be perfectly happy about. But, she just wasn’t getting the answers that she needed. 

She had stayed in the library until curfew the night before and had spent most of lunch and dinner here today as well. However, she felt like she was no closer to finding the answers to the house-elf issues she was determined to resolve. 

Not a single book that she had found so far spoke of house-elves other than in passing or the most generic of descriptions. No talk about the history of their enslavement. And  _ certainly _ none about their use here at Hogwarts. 

She may have felt most slighted by that.  _ Hogwarts: A History _ didn’t mention house-elves once. 

She slumped against the back of her chair, closed her eyes, and sighed. She was beginning to feel defeated. She didn’t like not  _ knowing _ . But what else could she do? She was a researcher by nature and had come to rely on the library for answers over the years. But now...it had failed her. 

And more importantly, and frustratingly, she felt like she was failing the elves. 

She wasn’t sure how long she sat like that, mind racing, before she was pulled from her thoughts by a gentle hand on her shoulder. 

“You alright, Hermione?” 

She opened her eyes and looked up to see Fred standing beside her, a look of genuine concern on his face. She’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t surprised to see him, of all people - it wasn’t every day that you saw one of the Weasley twins in the library, after all. Especially this early in the term.

She sighed and nodded in response to his question. He glanced back and forth between her and the giant pile of books that she had accumulated over the past few hours of research a couple of times, not looking like he believed her. 

“Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all,” Hermione replied, springing to action to make room at the table for him. She grabbed a book off of the top of her to-read stack, cracked it open, and settled back into her chair again as he took the chair next to her and started reading a book of his own. 

They remained like this for a while, both reading in companionable silence, interrupted only occasionally by the scratching of a quill as one of them took down notes. Hermione was surprised by how comfortable it was to be in his presence while they worked separately. Whenever she worked with Ron and Harry, there was little hope of her being able to actually get work done. They either needed her help, which she was usually happy to offer, or they talked about quidditch, which made it rather hard to concentrate. 

Fred, on the other hand, seemed like he was perfectly happy to be deep into his own research. It was refreshing. And even though she was sure he was looking into ways to bypass the age restriction for the tournament based on the books that he had chosen to read, she found that she was truly happy to have the company. 

It came as a surprise when the lights around the library dimmed, warning the students remaining of the approaching curfew. She had long since lost track of time and, looking over at Fred, it seemed that he had as well. 

Together, they returned their books to their appropriate places and started the walk back to Gryffindor Tower.

“So...how is your research on house-elves coming along?” Fred asked.

“Not well, honestly,” she replied with a scoff. “There’s just not much information available. And what is available is not helpful in the slightest. It’s incredibly frustrating.”

“Have you ever been down to the kitchens, Hermione?”

“What? No, of course not,” she replied, appalled by the thought. “As students we are surely not allowed, right?”

Fred chuckled. “Of course we’re not  _ allowed _ . But Georgie and I have been down there on occasion and we’ve met the house-elves. They seem to like us alright - they’re always happy to see us, anyway.” He paused and looked at her for a moment. “It might help if you met them. Talked to them and learned more about them from the source directly. If you think it would help, we could take you there and give you an introduction sometime.”

She pondered that for a moment. The idea of being able to hear from the elves directly was certainly appealing, but she was a little confused. “Why are you offering to help me with this? Not that I’m not grateful, but - ”

“You’re worried if there are ulterior motives or if Georgie and I are going to prank you instead?” 

She hummed, acknowledging his correct guess at her concerns. 

“No need to worry. There are no ulterior motives here. Although we would always love to borrow that brain of yours to help with some of our experiments, if you’d be willing. But that isn’t necessary by any means.”

He stopped walking and she felt a hand on her shoulder, stopping her too. She turned back to look at him and was momentarily overwhelmed by the warmth in his eyes. 

“Honestly, Hermione, you just seem like you could use the help. You looked like you were in over your head when I found you earlier, and it’s only the second day of term. You always seem willing to help anyone else out who needs it, so let us help you for a change, yeah?”

Surprisingly, she found that she completely trusted his answer. While they had always been friendly, they had never been incredibly close before. But she believed him. And he had looked like he was concerned when he joined her earlier, after all. And if he could really get her the chance to talk to the house elves and find out the best way to help them, well…

She nodded her acceptance of the offer. “Alright, then. And I wouldn’t mind consulting on  _ some _ of your experiments, I suppose. I just ask that you are honest with me about what they are for and respect my answer if I don’t want to help with what you are asking about.”

“Always,” Fred replied easily, grinning. “And as I said before, there are no strings attached to the offer to give you an introduction to the house-elves. So, no pressure at all. And we would never ask that you help with something that you are uncomfortable with, so don’t worry about that either.”

“Now, Miss Granger,” Fred said, bowing, with mirth in his eyes, “would you allow me to escort you back to the common room before we are found out past curfew? Wouldn’t want you getting detention, now, would we?”

Hermione laughed lightly at his antics as he held out his arm for her, an imitation of a perfect gentleman except for the wink and silly grin on his face. She rolled her eyes but accepted his arm with a matching grin. 

“Lead on then, Mister Weasley.”

**September 4, 1994**

\------ .F.W. ------

“I think this one is it, Georgie,” Fred said, looking around the abandoned classroom, excitement reflected in his eyes. 

“I think you’re right, Freddie,” George replied. “A few cleaning charms, set up a few wards, and then we are in business!”

Fred nodded as he stood in the center of the room, taking it in. They had scouted out a few other empty classrooms over the past couple of days, but something about all of the others had just been wrong. 

This one, however, was perfect. It was a decent sized room, which would allow them to section it off for their various needs. It had a teacher’s desk along one wall that they could easily expand to create a makeshift countertop and extra storage space. Plenty of room for cauldrons for their potions experiments. And some additional space that they could keep their research or work on charms or transfiguration projects. 

The need for a space of their own was obvious and had been one of their top priorities. For one thing, they didn’t want to keep experiments running in their dorm. If something unexpected were to happen, the consequences could be severe and dangerous.

For another, well, it wouldn’t do to have all of the other students think that they were actually using the time to prepare and study for their regular classes. They had a reputation to uphold, after all. 

“So...you and Hermione looked quite cozy when you came back from the library last night,” George said, pulling Fred out of his thoughts. 

Fred stared at him, a little confused as to where  _ that _ had come from. He shrugged. “It wasn’t anything like that. We ended up working at the same table and walked back to the common room together. She looked like she was going to go mad, so I offered our services to help her out.”

George raised an eyebrow incredulously. “Offered her our services? What did you get us into, Gred?”

“Nothing, really. I just told her that we would take her to the kitchens with us sometime and introduce her to some of the house-elves. She’s on a crusade to save them all, and I have a feeling she is heading in the wrong direction. Meeting some of them might help her get a clearer picture of what she could do.”

George groaned. “Oh, Gred. Please.  _ Please _ tell me that is all you promised her. We have enough to work on if we want to have any chance of being able to enter the tournament. We don’t have time for this.”

“Of course it was all I promised,” Fred defended. “Just one trip to the kitchens, Forge. We were down there at least once a week last year. It’s not like I promised we would go out of our way for that. We can just get her to tag along the next time we go.”

“Besides,” Fred continued, “she was grateful for the offer and went as far as to say that she would be willing to consult on some of our experiments if we needed another opinion.” 

Both of George’s eyebrows flew up at that and Fred knew he had him. 

“Seriously?”

“Absolutely.”

“Alright then,” George said, relenting, “but if this blows up in our faces somehow, it’s on you.”

Fred smirked. “Don’t worry so much, Georgie. Now, let’s clean this place up so we can move our equipment in later tonight. If we’re quick, we should still be able to grab some lunch before our next lesson.”

\------ .H.G. ------

She was once again sitting in the library, surrounded by stacks of books. She had been here for hours now, having come straight here after eating a very quick dinner. Harry and Ron had decided to leave her to her own devices. She suspected that they were afraid that she would ask them for their help. 

Which she  _ did  _ plan on doing at some point. Whenever she came up with an actual plan of action, that is. But she wasn’t any closer to one than she had been the night before.

At least she had Fred’s offer of a trip to the kitchens to meet the elves to look forward to.

“Hermione. Mind if I join you again?” 

Speak of the Devil…

She smiled as she looked up from her book at him, already moving some of her supplies over as she tilted her head toward the seat next to her, indicating that he was free to take it. 

Later that night, as they went their separate ways up the staircases to their dorms, she found herself still smiling. Thinking back on the night as she crawled into bed, she didn’t think that she had stopped smiling since Fred had joined her in the library.


	3. Point

**September 5, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

“Harry? Are you alright?” Hermione asked softly, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

She already knew the answer, of course. It was obvious that he was not alright. Neither was Neville, for that matter. But he had just been dragged back to Moody’s office for a cup of tea, so there wasn’t anything that she could do to help him right now.

Not that there was anything that she could do to  _ actually  _ help Harry either, but she had to try to do  _ something _ . 

Harry looked at her, emotions warring in his bright green eyes. “I think so,” he said quietly, looking around. It was just the two of them now - they had somehow lost Ron. She assumed he had rushed off to dinner after they ran into Neville, not realizing that herself and Harry had stopped. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked, moving her hand from his shoulder down to his forearm and moving them out of the middle of the hallway, toward an alcove so that they could sit and talk. 

Harry shrugged as he sat down, leaning against the window at his back. Hermione copied him as she sat down as well, but rested her head against his shoulder. She could tell Harry was laughing at her by the slight movement of his shoulders, but after a moment he leaned his head against hers and sighed. 

They sat in silence for several minutes. Hermione did not push Harry to talk. They had gotten close over the years, and she knew that he would talk if and when he was ready. They tended to have a calming effect on each other, and sometimes just being in each other's presence was enough of a support. She could feel him starting to relax a little next to her, his breathing evening out as well. 

“I knew they were killed, of course,” Harry said after a few more minutes, sounding drained. “I could hear my mum being killed last year whenever the Dementors got too close. But this was different. Seeing exactly how they died, I mean. One flash of green light and that was it, Hermione. Their lives ended that fast.”

She had no words that could make this better. She could feel tears forming in her eyes and had to will herself to calm down. She needed to be strong for Harry right now, not give into the emotion. 

He needed her. And she needed him, too. They were best friends. But they were also more than that, really. They had become  _ family _ . They were both only children, and neither had grown up with many friends until they found each other. Ron was their best friend as well, of course, but this was different. Ron had other support systems that he could turn to in his brothers and sister here at Hogwarts. She and Harry only really had each other. 

She grabbed one of his hands and squeezed, letting him know that she was here for him. A silent promise that she would listen and support him however she could. Always.

\------ .F.W. ------

For the third night that week, Fred found himself buried under stacks of books in the library with Hermione. They once again sat side by side as they worked in comfortable silence on their own projects.

He and George had decided to divide and conquer, at this point at least, in their goal to find a solution to get around the age restriction for the Triwizard Tournament. George was on ingredient procurement for their brewing experiments, while Fred had been tasked with research. 

So far, they hadn’t gotten very far. Thankfully, it was still only the first week back in the castle, and they still had some time. But they needed some progress to be made soon, or else they would be out of luck. 

His mind was restless with ideas. He looked down at the journal he was using for his notes and re-read through what he had added that night. It was an interesting theory, of course, but not something that they had tried before. 

“Hermione?” he asked quietly, loud enough to get her attention but soft enough that they wouldn’t draw the ire of Madam Pince. 

“Yes?” she replied, setting down her quill and turning toward him, giving him her full attention. 

“What do you know about layering charms into a potion?”

“Not much, honestly,” she answered with a slight frown. “We haven’t done anything too complex with that in Potions yet. We’ve just added on preservation charms and the like when bottling our samples. I’ve read some theory on it, of course, but haven’t had the opportunity to do anything with it in a practical sense.”

“Same with us,” he replied. “You know that we are trying to alter the Aging Potion, yeah?”

“I assumed so, based on some of the books you have been looking through,” she acknowledged with a shrug. “I didn’t know for sure that’s what you two were planning, but I thought it might be something along that line. I’m sorry, Fred, but I won’t help you two with this. I know what you’re planning to use it for, and it’s so dangerous. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

She scoffed at that, which made him laugh. 

“Ok, i’m not asking for your help with the actual practical application. Just to talk out the theory. Honestly, we wouldn’t risk having you help with the actual brewing or layering.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Not that I would, but why not? I would be perfectly capable.”

“I never said you wouldn’t be capable,” he replied quickly, holding his hands up in surrender. “What I meant was, we wouldn’t risk you getting into trouble for helping us if things go our way and this actually works. If you help us by just talking through the theory of it, you have plausible deniability. If you were to actually brew or do any of the charm work, you wouldn’t have an out.

“That’s actually quite considerate,” she said in a surprised tone. He once again couldn’t help but laugh at her. 

“What’s with the tone of surprise? Us Weasley twins are decent blokes, you know.”

He watched as a pretty pink blush rose on her cheeks. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just...I meant...I -”

“Don’t worry so much, Hermione. I was just giving you a hard time. Now, would you still be willing to talk through some Potions and Charms theory with me?”

“I suppose so,” she said with a sigh. “It’s not like the two of you would put a stop to this plan if I refused, would you?”

“Not a chance,” he said, grinning at her. 

She nodded, resigned. “Ok, where do you want to start?”

\------ .H.G. ------

“So, let me make sure I understand this correctly. You want to layer a Permanent Sticking Charm into the Aging Potion so that the effects of the potion will no longer just be temporary?”

“That’s the general idea,” Fred confirmed. “Of course, it’s much more complicated than that, and it wouldn’t  _ actually _ be a Permanent Sticking Charm, but that’s more or less the theory I am flying with at the moment.”

Hermione nodded at him, nibbling on the end of her quill, deep in thought. They had been talking through this for the last hour or so, and she had to admit that she was intrigued by the idea. And she could also admit that she was impressed with the twins. She had always known that they were smart, of course, but hearing Fred talk about magical theory like this was something else entirely. 

She set down her quill and turned toward him again. “You know, that could work. It’s kind of brilliant, actually. I wonder why no one has thought to make that alteration before - ” 

Suddenly, she was interrupted by a loud rumbling noise from her stomach. 

Fred laughed. “Hungry?” he asked her with a wide smile on his face. 

“Maybe a bit,” she replied, horrified. She could feel the heat rise in her face, coloring her cheeks bright red in embarrassment. 

“Don’t be embarrassed - we all need to eat. We’ve been at this for hours now, and I’m willing to bet you didn’t eat much at dinner tonight. I owe you a trip to the kitchens, anyway. Let’s go now - I’m sure the house-elves would be more than willing to make us a snack.”

“Oh, no, that’s really alright. I have a few snacks up in my dorm that I can eat. It’s getting close to curfew and we really shouldn’t…”

“Nonsense,” he said as he packed his journal of research notes into his bag and started to gather up the books to be put away. “I won’t take no for an answer. Now pack up your things and let’s get going.”

\------ .F.W. ------

He had been right, of course. The house-elves had been incredibly accommodating when they requested a late night snack. He and Hermione were now seated at a small table in a corner of the kitchen that was covered in sandwiches, crisps, petit fours, and two cups of tea. 

Hermione had wanted to talk to the elves first, but they would not have it. To Fred’s amusement, and Hermione’s frustration, the elves refused to answer any of her questions until they had eaten. They were clear in that they would be happy to talk to her, but that they wanted her to eat first. 

He had never seen her so frustrated and flustered before. 

Honestly, she looked absolutely glorious like this. Sure, she was a mess - there was no denying that - but, she looked like she was ready to go to war. Her cheeks were tinted pink, her hair was practically sparking, and she kept chewing on her bottom lip as if it would help keep her from saying something that she would regret. And maybe it did. What did he know? 

He wished he knew what was going through her head right now. She looked ready to explode. 

A house-elf by the name of Tink approached their little table with a fresh pot of tea, topping off their cups for them. 

“Is there anything else that Tink can get Missus and Mister?” Tink asked with a small curtsy. 

He watched as Hermione smiled tightly, reigning in her frustration. “This is wonderful, thank you, Tink. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions now?” 

Tink nodded her head, her ears flopping slightly, clearly now pleased with the amount of food that they had eaten enough to finally respond to Hermione’s request for an interview. 

A few more elves made their way over to their corner, clearly curious about what was going on. After they gathered, Tink made introductions. 

“Miss Hermione and Mister Fred, this is Twinkle, Callie, Kip, and Dobby. We is pleased to be helping yous.”

Fred couldn’t help but laugh when the last elf was introduced. While the other Hogwarts elves wore what may have been pillowcases with the school crest on them and nothing else, this elf seemed to like to accessorize. He was wearing colorful mismatched socks with his uniform and a small hat over his head with holes in it for his large ears. 

Hermione, on the other hand, just gaped. 

“Dobby?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! My gift to you is this chapter as a bonus chapter for this week. I hope that you enjoyed it! Next chapter will be posted on Monday.


	4. Steady

**September 5, 1994 (Continued)**

\------ .H.G. ------

“Dobby?!” Hermione gasped.

“Yes, Miss?” Dobby asked, his already large eyes growing even wider. She got up from her seat and kneeled in front of him, bringing her to his eye level, before pulling him into a tight hug. 

Dobby squeaked in surprise, but she eventually felt him pat her back lightly before finally returning the hug. She broke away after a moment and smiled brightly at the little elf, who looked more than a little confused. 

“Hi Dobby. I’m Hermione Granger, and it is an absolute pleasure to meet you,” she said, holding out her hand to him. He shook her hand, still looking hesitant. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Harry Potter.”

At that, she saw his eyes light up with delight. “Miss knows Harry Potter?”

“He is my very best friend. Almost like my brother, really,” she replied, nodding. 

“Harry Potter is very kind and brave. Dobby owes so much to Mister Harry Potter. Does Miss Hermione think that Dobby could visit Harry Potter sometime?”

“I think that Harry would love that, Dobby,” Hermione replied, smiling at the elf. Dobby looked on the verge of happy tears at that. 

“Dobby would like that too, Miss Hermione. But Dobby is needing to help Miss first. Tink says Miss has questions for Dobby and the other elves?”

Hermione nodded and looked over at Fred, who was watching the scene with obvious interest, a small smile on his face. He nodded encouragingly at her. She returned to her seat across the small table from him, mentally going through a list of questions that she had pre-prepared and wondered where exactly she should start. 

\------ .F.W. ------

Fred made a mental note to ask Harry or Hermione about Dobby later. There seemed to be a story there that he was missing and was  _ incredibly _ curious as to what it was. 

He listened in as Hermione interviewed the elves, interested in knowing a little more about them himself. He and George had been down to the kitchens often, but they hadn’t ever really taken the time to talk to them like this. There was definitely more to the little creatures than he had known before. 

But it was getting late. It was far past curfew by now, and it had been a long day. When he saw Hermione yawn, he took the opening. 

“Come on, Hermione. We should get back to the dorms.”

“Oh, but I still have more questions,” she replied with a small frown. 

“You can always come back another time. You know how to get here now, after all, and you promised Dobby that he could visit with Harry sometime. You could bring him with you.”

Dobby nodded, obviously happy with that idea, and Fred could see Hermione giving in. 

“Alright then,” she said around another yawn. Fred stood up and offered her his hand, pulling her to her feet. She quickly made her way to the exit and he followed closely behind. 

“Wait - “ Fred stopped her after they exited the kitchen. “May I?” he asked, pulling out his wand.

She looked confused, but nodded her agreement. He was a little surprised by how quickly she had agreed without even knowing what he was going to do, but found that he was pleased that she really did seem to trust him. He grabbed her hand before tapping his wand on the top of her head and whispered the incantation. 

“Disillusionment charm,” he explained quietly before casting the spell on himself as well. “Should get us back to the common room with no problems. Sorry about the hand holding, but it wouldn’t do either of us any good to lose the other while we’re invisible.”

“It’s not a problem,” she whispered back as they walked quietly through the corridor, hand in hand, heading in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. He had barely heard her response, but it made him smile all the same.

**September 6, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

“Come on, Harry, Ron!” Hermione whined, slightly put out. She couldn’t understand why they were fighting her on this. She had asked them to leave dinner with her a little early, but it’s not like this wouldn’t make up for it. 

“Why won’t you just tell us where we are going, Hermione? I don’t think that we’ve ever been in this part of the castle before,” Harry replied as she tugged on both of their arms, dragging them through the corridor. 

“We’re almost there, you just have to wait and see.”

She could hear Ron and Harry grumbling to each other behind her, but she couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. Finally, they reached the painting of the bowl of fruit that she now knew marked the entrance to the kitchens. 

“Where are we, Hermione?” Ron asked as she reached out toward the painting. She stopped short and finally decided that she might as well answer their questions now that they were here. 

“The kitchens.” 

Ron’s expression seemed to be bouncing from annoyed to excited, while Harry just looked confused.

“How long have you known where the kitchens are? Why haven’t we come here before?” Ron asked. While his tone had started out accusatory, she could tell that he was more excited to have this information than annoyed anymore. 

"I just found out last night. I came down here to meet some of the house-elves. Fred brought me here -”

“Fred?” Harry interrupted, raising an eyebrow at her in question. 

“Not important,” she responded quickly with what she hoped was a casual wave of her hand, causing both of Harry’s eyebrows to shoot up. She sighed internally, knowing there would likely be questions later from Harry at least. Not that there was anything to tell, of course, but still. 

Ron still seemed more concerned about getting into the kitchens, so she figured she only really had to worry about getting Harry back on track. “What’s important is inside. Let me show you!”

She reached out to the painting and tickled the pear, which turned into a doorknob. She opened the entrance for the two boys and they quickly stepped inside. 

From her place behind Harry and Ron, she heard an excited squeak of “Harry Potter, Sir!” and a blur of movement as Dobby crashed into Harry’s legs, hugging him tightly. 

\------ .H.G. ------

Several hours later found Hermione alone in the common room. Everyone had long ago headed to bed, but she had not been able to sleep, so she came back downstairs to read by the fire. 

She was startled by the sounds of footsteps coming down the boys side of the staircase. Harry soon came into view and looked surprised when he saw that she was still awake as well. 

“Couldn’t sleep, either?” he asked, moving her feet off of the sofa gently so that he could sit next to her.

She shook her head in response, marking her place in her book, and gently setting it down on the floor beside the sofa. “Too much running through my head, I suppose. It’s hard to believe that it’s only the end of the first week back. It feels like we’ve been back for weeks already.”

He nodded his agreement before resting his head against the back of the sofa.

“So what’s your excuse for not being able to sleep?”

“Sirius,” Harry replied quietly. “I haven’t heard back from him since I wrote to him before the World Cup and I’m worried about him.”

“We’d have heard if he had been caught though, wouldn’t we?” Hermione asked, trying her best to reassure him.

“I suppose so. But that doesn’t make me worry any less. I know that I just met him at the end of last term but…”

“He’s family,” Hermione finished his thought for him in understanding. Harry nodded again, sighing. 

“It’s gotten worse after Moody’s lesson,” Harry continued, scrubbing his hands down his face. “Seeing those curses, knowing how my parents died...knowing that Sirius had nothing to do with it but had to sit in Azkaban for twelve years anyway. It’s just a lot to process, I guess. And now not knowing that he’s safe...”

Hermione nodded in understanding and wrapped her arms around him in an awkward half hug, burrowing her head into his shoulder. Harry laughed, but returned her embrace and they sat together like that for quite some time. 

Finally, Hermione yawned, got to her feet and collected her book. “Time for bed, I think.”

Harry nodded and stood up too, stretched, and then broke out in a mischievous grin that automatically set Hermione on edge.

“So…Fred took you to the kitchens?” he asked with a teasing glint in his eye as he wiggled both of his eyebrows at her suggestively.

“Oh, shut it, Harry!” Hermione groaned tiredly, smacking him on the arm, which just made him laugh. 

“You know you’re not getting out of explaining that, right?”

“Of course I’m not that lucky,” she deadpanned. “There’s really nothing to tell, but if you insist, we can talk about it tomorrow after we’ve gotten some sleep.”

“I suppose that is a fair compromise. G’night, Hermione.”

“Good night, Harry.”

**September 7, 1994**

\------ .F.W. ------

Back in their makeshift lab, Fred poured over his notes while George sorted through the potion ingredients that he had been able to procure throughout the past several days. Some of them were from their own potion kits, of course, but others were taken from the student stores. They had decided to take only a little at a time from the stores, hoping that it wouldn’t draw much attention.

It wasn’t like they were stealing - the stores were available for student use - but, taking too much at once  _ might _ be frowned upon. It wouldn’t do for Snape to realize a large amount of ingredients that go into the Aging Potion had disappeared and then report it to Dumbledore. 

So, they tried to be patient. And they still had more research to do before they could move forward with brewing and testing anyway. There was no need to get ahead of themselves. But they needed to make some progress, and soon. 

“Alright, Freddie,” George said, putting the last of the potion ingredients into their appropriate places and making his way back across the room. “Where do you think we should start?”

“I think that trying to figure out the charm modifications may be the best place to start,” he replied, flipping through his notes again. “We need to find the differences in intent, incantation, and wand movements between charms that have both temporary and permanent variations. We are looking to find any consistency across the permanent variations that we can.”

George nodded. “Seems as good a plan as any. Let’s get to work!”


	5. Balance

**September 13, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

She couldn’t concentrate. Hermione supposed that part of the problem was she was still at a loss as to how to best help the house-elves. 

Part of her had thought that freeing them was the answer. But after talking with them in the kitchen that first night with Fred, as well as the three other times that she had gone by alone after that in the past week, she had been pretty quickly convinced otherwise. 

There were absolutely things that could make their lives better, though. 

Payment and time off seemed to be the most obvious starting point. However, the elves repeatedly said that those things don't matter to them. That the best form of payment to them was the happiness of those that they were bound to serve. Which honestly made Hermione feel ill to think about, but she figured that she could work with them about that over time.

But she was sure that there was more to be done to move the cause forward and make things better for house-elves. So she made a list. 

Some things, like access to a decent and clean uniform, seemed easy enough. While the Hogwarts elves had this already, she had heard from several of them that had worked for other families before that this was not always the case.

Other things, like access to mental health care, may be more complicated.

Seeing Winky the second time she had visited on her own had been a shock. She had clearly not taken the loss of her previous position well, even with having been given a new one at Hogwarts. 

Her observations and discussion with Winky had prompted Hermione to quickly add access to a Mind Healer to elves who had lost the families they had taken care of - either due to their previous owners death or to being freed - to her ever growing list.

At some point, she would need to recruit some other witches and wizards to help her move these ideas forward and spread the word about the need for reform. She added that to her list too, with an asterisk next to it. That was something that she could start relatively quickly...

But house-elves were not the only thing distracting her. 

She narrowed her eyes at the two boys sitting across the table from her. She had originally been thrilled when Harry and Ron said that they planned to join her in the library tonight. She should have known it was too good to be true that they planned to  _ actually _ get any work done. They hadn’t even opened their textbooks yet, for Godric’s sake. And they had been talking about some quidditch move or other for over the past hour.

She found herself wishing that another redhead was sitting at the table with her instead. 

Merlin.  _ Where had that come from?  _

She shook her head to try to clear her mind. She supposed that it didn’t help anything that she hadn’t really seen Fred since that night in the kitchens over a week ago. In the short three nights that they had spent in the library together, they had developed some kind of strange and unexpected friendship. They could laugh and joke together, but they had both been able to get their own work done as well. Or talk about magical theory.

It had been almost relaxing. 

And she missed it. Desperately. Relaxing was about as far away from this study session as it could be. Harry and Ron were going to make her go mad if they mentioned one more thing about quidditch. She supposed she should be grateful that they weren’t talking about the Triwizard Tournament. 

There was nothing for it. She was going to get nothing done tonight, anyway. She shut her book and started packing up her bag. Harry and Ron looked over at her, both looking a little sheepish. 

“Sorry, Hermione. We didn’t mean to distract you,” Ron said. “We can leave if you want to get more work done.”

“That’s alright, Ron, don’t worry about it,” she replied, continuing to put her supplies away. “I think that I’ve gotten everything done that I can, and am just going to call it a night.”

“If you’re sure?” Harry asked. She nodded, banished the last of the books she had been using back to their shelves and headed out of the library. 

\------ .F.W. ------

Fred was quite pleased with the progress that they were making toward altering the Aging Potion.

He and George had spent almost an entire week finding charms that caused temporary effects that also had a variation of the same spell that would make the effects permanent. 

They had spent hours every day comparing the differences in the variations between the spells, keeping to themselves in their makeshift lab, and had finally confirmed that there were consistencies in the permanent variations. There were several that they would have to try out, but they were hopeful that at least one of them may work to alter the potion for their needs.

It was the information that they needed to be able to start some initial testing. They were planning to start brewing a batch of the potion the next day.

Exhausted, and not paying attention to where they were going, they quite literally ran into someone as they exited one of their shortcuts to get back to the common room, knocking them all to the floor. 

Fred groaned and looked over at George, before they both realized that they were still on top of Hermione, who they had knocked down with them. They quickly righted themselves and each offered her a hand to pull her to her feet. 

“Sorry, Hermione. We should have been watching where we were going,” George said as Hermione accepted their help and allowed them to pull her back to her feet. 

“It’s alright, George - no harm done,” Hermione replied as she dusted herself off. 

“Well, the least we can do is carry your bag for you and escort you to the common room. What do you say, Hermione?” Fred said as he reached down and grabbed her bag from the floor before putting it over his shoulder. 

“I suppose I could stand your company for the walk back,” she replied with a smile, “but you really don’t have to carry my bag for me.”

“Sure I do,” Fred said, holding out his arm to her as George did the same, mirroring him. 

“You two are incorrigible,” she scoffed, but looped her arms through theirs and started to head in the direction of Gryffindor Tower again. “But I suppose that is part of your charm.”

“Of course it is,” George replied with a chuckle, shoving her gently, which caused her to bump into Fred in a chain reaction. 

“Have you two had any breakthroughs on your project?” Hermione asked, looking at each of them in turn. 

“Don’t know that we can call it a breakthrough, but we’ve got a few ideas that we think  _ could _ work. We’re planning to start testing later this week. Can’t tell you too much, of course. Plausible deniability, right?” Fred answered her with a wink.

“Of course,” Hermione replied, a light blush rising across her cheeks. He noticed George give him a calculating look over the top of Hermione’s head, which he resolutely chose to ignore. 

\------ .H.G. ------

“This is all my fault. He shouldn’t be coming back here,” Harry exclaimed, clearly frustrated, glaring at the sheet of parchment in his hand as he paced back and forth in front of the fire. “I shouldn’t have told him about my scar hurting. He wouldn’t be doing this if I hadn’t.”

Harry and Ron had come back to the common room shortly after her, Fred, and George had arrived. They had all played a few rounds of Exploding Snap together before the twins and Ron headed to their dorms, leaving Harry and Hermione alone in the common room. 

Not long after that, the letter from Sirius had arrived. 

Hermione shook her head, and though she knew that it was unlikely that she would get through to him when he was like this, she had to make an attempt.

“It’s not your fault, Harry. You did the right thing in writing to him. He wanted to know, and is making the best decisions that he can to be safe and take care of you the best he can as well.”

“But what if he gets caught, Hermione? It will be all my fault.”

“Padfoot has done a good job of laying low for months now. He’ll be careful. He knows what would happen if he were to get caught. I don’t think that he would do anything to risk that.”

Harry sat down on the sofa next to her, leaning his head against the back of his seat. “You’re right. I know that you are. I just don’t like that he’s putting himself at more risk just for me. I was already worried about him. This just makes it worse.”

“I know, Harry,” she replied quietly with a sigh. “I know.”

**September 19, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

The day had been, thankfully, rather uneventful. All that she had really wanted for her birthday was some quiet time in the library to work on her newest plan to better the lives of house-elves, and she had gotten her wish. 

She checked over her notes one final time, before packing up her bag and exiting the library. She was sure that her new organization, the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, was just the thing needed to get the movement heading in the right direction.

She was slightly disappointed that Harry and Ron were nowhere to be seen when she came into the common room, but she made plans to talk to them the next day about joining S.P.E.W. She had no doubt that they would want to help. She decided to call it a night.

Upon entering her dorm, she was surprised to see a small package wrapped in brown kraft paper tied together with crimson and gold ribbons on her bed. She had already received gifts from her parents, Harry, and Ron, and she hadn’t been expecting to receive anything else. 

Sitting down on the corner of her bed, she unwrapped the package to find a pack of sugar quills. Having dentists for parents had meant a minimal amount of candy growing up, and the habit had stuck when she came to Hogwarts, for the most part. She did have one candy vice though, and that was sugar quills. 

She found a small parchment note stuck to the back of the box that made her smile fondly. 

_ Happy birthday, Hermione! _

_ Just wanted to make sure that you got something sweet for your birthday.  _

_ Best wishes! _

_ From, _

_ Your Favorite Weasley Twin _

_ (It’s Fred. In case you had a rare momentary lapse of judgement and thought that George was the superior twin.) _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, 2021! I hope that you all have a safe, happy, and healthy new year. To celebrate 2021, here is a bonus chapter this week for you all. The next chapter will be posted on Monday.


	6. Spectacle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Friends! I hope that you enjoy this chapter! Things are going to start really moving forward in the story now!
> 
> Potential Trigger Warning: There is mention of animals (rats, in this case) being used as test subjects in this chapter. If this is something that you are not comfortable with, skip the first Fred POV section. Spoiler: Nothing bad happens to the animals.

**October 13, 1994**

\------ .F.W. ------

The first month of classes had passed without much incident. Aside from the obviously paranoid Mad-Eye Moody wanting to cast the Imperius Curse on them in Defense, Fred found himself rather bored with his classes. 

He couldn’t complain though. This only resulted in giving him and George more time to research and experiment to find a way to enter the tournament. They spent almost all of their time testing out the effects of adding what they were calling Permanent Charms, for lack of a better name at the moment, to the Aging Potion. 

They had taken any consistencies that they could find from charms that had both temporary and permanent variations, and tried adding each to a small phial of the potion. They had nine different experiments currently running, all included the Aging Potion with a different variation of the Permanent Charm.

George had managed to acquire a few small rats from the Transfiguration classroom that they tested their potions on. Prior to starting, they had determined the exact age of each rat using a simple diagnostic spell. Each rat had then been given one drop from a different version of the modified Aging Potions. Now they had been using the diagnostic spell to determine the adjusted age of the rats after the Aging Potion took effect. 

They had seen pretty mixed results so far.

When the drops of potion were first given to each rat there was an immediate change in age, as expected. But over time, the potion had been wearing off on more of the rats. All but one batch of potion had at least extended the effects of the normal Aging Potion, so they counted that as a minor success. And they still had two rats that had not reverted back to their original age. So there was still hope that they would be successful.

It was far more advanced work than what they were learning in their lessons, but Fred knew that it would help them in the future whether they succeeded in entering into the tournament or not. At the very least, it would help with other future products for the shop. At best, they could patent a new version of the Aging Potion. 

Fred cast the diagnostic spell on the two rats that, as of the previous night, had not de-aged. He was pleased to see that the first of the two was still its adjusted age, but was disappointed when the second one registered as having gone back to its original age. 

They were down to their last chance for this to work. While things were not looking great, he was still holding out hope. 

**October 27, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

Upon entering the common room, Hermione was surprised to see so much activity. The students of Gryffindor Tower were rarely this excited so early in the morning. The only times they were this excited in the morning was when there was a quidditch match or earlier this term after…

Oh. _Of course_.

She had put the Triwizard Tournament to the back of her brain for the past month. It’s not that she wasn’t excited about certain aspects of the tournament. She rather thought that having the chance to meet students from other wizarding schools was quite exciting and a great opportunity. 

But she was worried. 

While she hadn’t spoken much to either Weasley twin recently, she suspected that their consistent absence from the common room was due to their experiments with the Aging Potion. She had to assume that they had made some kind of progress that was keeping them going with it. And if they succeeded, they would be entering the tournament. 

A tournament in which people had _died_. 

It wasn’t _just_ them that she was worried about, of course. She would be worried about every student that entered until the champions were selected. And then she would be _extremely_ worried about those students in particular. 

Really. The last thing that this school needed was another dangerous event taking place. Hadn’t they had enough danger over the past few years? A three headed dog, a basilisk, dementors...just to name a few. 

But the twins were still too young to enter the tournament. Granted, she understood where their frustration came from. They would be turning seventeen in under six months time, after all. And she could admit that it was _a_ _bit_ unfair that some of their fellow sixth years, who just so happened to have the good luck of being born a few short months earlier, would be allowed to enter when they would not be. 

She made her way to the crowd of students that hovered around the notice board. She slowly pushed her way through to the front of the crowd and was able to read the missive that advised them that the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstang would be arriving at the end of the week. Even though she worried for her friends, she couldn’t help but feel excited about the upcoming arrival of the international students.

That _was_ what the tournament was actually supposed to be about after all. Right? 

**October 30, 1994**

\------ .F.W. ------

The delegates of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had arrived to much fanfare. It had been odd to see students in different uniforms in the Great Hall. 

And even odder, but much more exciting, was that Viktor Krum was among the Durmstrang students. They had known that he was the youngest seeker playing professional quidditch, of course, but had not realized that he was still in school. 

But the most exciting part of the night had been the reveal of the Goblet of Fire. 

It was a relief to know that the impartial judge was not a human. Really, Fred figured that Dumbledore’s Age Line would be the _only_ thing that would actually keep underage students out of the tournament. If their name got into the Goblet, it’s not like it would be able to tell who was of age or not.

They were also relieved that the Age Line had seemed to be the only protection around the Goblet. He couldn’t pretend that he was not grateful that they would not need to sneak past Dumbledore or one of the other professors who knew that they were not of age. 

While they could not be absolutely certain that their potion would work as they needed it to, they were hopeful. Their last rat being monitored had not de-aged again and it had been over a month. They were as confident as they could be.

Now, it was time to try the potion on themselves. They had done the arithmancy several times over to check that they got the correct dosage to age them exactly six months and had portioned the potion into vials with the right amount. Though they would run a diagnostic charm tonight to verify that they had aged appropriately, their true test would not be until they attempted to cross the Age Line the next day. 

He looked over at George, who raised his vial in a toast. “Bottoms up!”

**October 31, 1994**

\------ .F.W. ------

This was the moment of truth. 

They had gotten up early. Part of it was that they were too excited and nervous to sleep. The other part of it was that, if they could get past the Age Line, they wanted to put their names into the Goblet while most of the school was still sleeping. 

Usually, they would have wanted the attention. Thrived in it, even. But this was too important to them. They had worked too hard to draw attention to themselves and risk being caught before they had the chance to actually put their names in for consideration. 

They also didn’t want those who knew that they were not of age to ask them for a few drops of the potion if this worked. While they were as confident in it as they could be after their successful test on the rat, it was always a risk that something could go wrong when testing on human subjects for the first time. And since they had just taken the potion yesterday, Fred wasn’t comfortable with the idea of testing it on others yet until they knew without a shadow of a doubt that there had been no issues that came from their use of it first. 

So, here they were, standing at the Age Line.

“Ready, Georgie?” he asked with a nervous grin on his face, looking at his twin. 

“Ready, Freddie,” George replied. 

As one, they stepped over the Age Line.

\------ .H.G. ------

“It worked!” came a quiet whisper in her ear, which caused her to gasp and jump, resulting in a spilt cup of tea all over her section of the Gryffindor table. 

She quickly looked up to see Fred, who was currently bent over double, laughing at her. 

“I’m sorry, Hermione - believe it or not, I didn't mean to scare you,” he choked out between laughs. 

“Fred Weasley, you nearly gave me a heart attack!” she scolded him, waving her wand to clean up the mess. Once her heart rate had gone back to normal, she made herself a new cup of tea. 

“I’m hurt, Hermione. I’m George, not Fred. And I thought you could tell us apart...”

“I _can_ tell you apart. Which is why I know you’re not George, Fred. Nice effort, though,”

“Fine. You win, witch,” he conceded with a wink as he sat down next to her. “At some point you’re going to have to tell us how you can tell Georgie and I apart. You, Gin, and Harry may be the only ones who can always tell. It’s bad for business, you know.”

“ _Bad for business_? How do you figure?” Hermione asked, confused. 

“Well, we like to play pranks, you see…”

“Really? I had no idea,” she deadpanned, causing Fred to grin.

“Someone is cheeky this morning,” he said with a chuckle, bumping her shoulder lightly with his. She rolled her eyes at him, but could feel the blush rising in her cheeks. She looked away, returning to her breakfast, willing the blush to recede quickly.

He leaned in close and lowered his voice, speaking so quietly that she could barely hear him over the ambient noise of the Great Hall at breakfast time. “Going back to why I came over to see you originally, before I so rudely scared you...our potion worked!” 

She looked over to him and saw excitement and pride written clearly across his face. 

Hermione smiled tightly at him. She was proud of them both, truly. But she was also terrified that one of them would be selected and be put into an obscene amount of danger.

“I can’t pretend that the idea of one of you being chosen for the tournament doesn’t scare me,” she replied in a quiet voice, “but I am excited that your hard work paid off and that you were able to figure it out.”

“We’d be alright, you know,” Fred replied confidently. “Nothing us Weasley twins can’t do if we put our minds to it.” 

Hermione could only nod. 

\------ .F.W. ------

The Great Hall was silent. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath in anticipation. The champions for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had been announced and they were just waiting for the Goblet of Fire to spit out the name of the student who would be the Hogwarts Champion. 

Fred glanced at his twin out of the corner of his eye and could tell that he was a bit anxious, but was excited more than anything. He felt the exact same way. 

Finally, the Goblet of Fire came to life again, blue flames dancing wildly. A piece of parchment shot out and into Dumbledore’s waiting hand. 

Fred held his breath and grabbed onto George’s forearm as Dumbledore unrolled the small roll of parchment. 

“And the Hogwarts Champion is…”

\------ .H.G. ------

“Fred Weasley!”

Hermione’s heart sank into the pit of her stomach. She did the best to hide her fear for him as the Gryffindor table erupted in cheers. She applauded along with everyone else as he stood up and hugged his twin tightly before joining the other champions in the chamber off of the Great Hall. 

She could see by the looks on Professor Dumbledore’s and Professor McGonagall’s faces that he would also be facing consequences of entering the tournament underage. Maybe there was a chance that they would not allow him to compete. She knew that would crush him, though, and as much as she wanted him to be safe, she knew how much this meant to him and George. 

Professor Dumbledore had just begun speaking when the Goblet of Fire came to life _again_ , blue flames dancing wildly. 

Certainly _that_ was not supposed to happen. The champions had all been selected. 

She could see the occupants of the Head Table visibly tense. 

Yes, that was _certainly_ not supposed to happen then. 

The Headmaster, though clearly surprised, reached out his hand as another small scroll of parchment flew out of the Goblet. The Great Hall was silent once more, everyone curious and anxious to find out what was going on. 

Professor Dumbledore unrolled the small roll of parchment. 

“Harry Potter.”


	7. Hold

**October 31, 1994 (Continued)**

\------ .H.G. ------

She couldn’t breathe. 

Surely this was some kind of sick joke or a nightmare, right? She looked over at Harry, who looked like he was in shock. 

“Harry Potter!” Dumbledore called again, looking toward the Gryffindor table. 

Hermione came to her senses, realizing that Harry needed her help. “Go on, Harry,” she said quietly from her spot next to him, pushing him lightly. 

She watched as he stood up shakily. Tears formed in her eyes, and she silently willed them not to fall. She needed to get him moving. He needed to be her priority right now.

“I didn’t - “ 

“I know, Harry. I know you didn’t. But you need to go now,” Hermione said quietly. She knew he could hear her. The Great Hall was silent as everyone stared in their direction. She nodded at him encouragingly and saw him square his shoulders and walk toward where the other champions had disappeared. 

As he walked toward his exit, the noise level rose significantly. Students in other houses were standing up to get a better look, the Gryffindors were beside themselves, and some of the professors had even gotten out of their seats to whisper to each other.

Professor Dumbledore raised his wand and sent up sparks into the air to get everyone’s attention before telling them all to head back to their dorms. 

Hermione fell in step with Ron as they exited the hall. She was surprised to see that he looked angry. 

“I can’t believe that he didn’t tell us that he was going to enter,” Ron hissed. “He could have at least told us so that I could have entered with him. And now he’s going to take this away from Fred, too.”

Hermione gaped at him. Surely he didn’t  _ actually  _ think that Harry had put his name in, did he? 

And the irony that Ron was upset about Harry being selected and potentially stealing glory from Fred, when he too was technically underage and should not have been able to enter, was not lost on her. Though she supposed that the potion he and George had created had officially fixed the age problem for them. But the point remained.

\------ .F.W. ------

Well, Harry being announced as the fourth Champion had been quite the surprise. 

The other two champions seemed to be miffed about it, but Fred wasn’t mad. Not really. It’d be a bit hypocritical of him to be so. Annoyed? Maybe that was the better word. Because even though Harry was several years younger, he had a proven talent for being quite good at the sort of things they would likely be up against in the tournament. 

And while Fred appreciated  _ some  _ healthy competition, he was already going to be going up again Viktor sodding Krum. Good Godric, how much more competition did he need?

But it was fairly obvious that Harry had no idea how he had ended up there and had looked like he was going to be seriously ill. He had stopped Fred after their meeting ended and said that he hadn’t put his name into the Goblet of Fire. And honestly, he believed him. 

Not that there was anything that could be done about it at this point. Magically binding contract and all. 

Which also meant that he would  _ have _ to be allowed to compete, much to Minnie’s obvious concern. Having one of her Gryffindor students competing who shouldn’t have been able to was one thing...but having two? It almost seemed to be too much for her. Much to his amusement, she had even snapped at Dumbledore about it.

He knew that she was far more upset with him than Harry, though. While Harry made it pretty obvious that he had no desire to be there, Fred had been excited. Happy. And it certainly wasn’t the first time that she had seen him after a successful prank, so she knew that his being entered into the tournament had been very intentional. 

She had promised that she would be writing home to mum and dad. He was not looking forward to his mum’s ire. He hadn’t forgotten the Howler that she had sent to Ron two years ago. And while he had thought it funny at the time…

But that was a problem for tomorrow. 

Tonight was the time to celebrate!

He gave the password at the entrance to Gryffindor Tower and he and Harry climbed through to the common room to an explosion of noise. 

\------ .H.G. ------

Hermione was not in the mood to celebrate, but she stayed in the common room anyway. She wanted to be here when Harry came back, knowing that he would likely need her support. 

But Ron beat her to him.

Almost as soon as Harry climbed into the common room with Fred, Ron cornered him and made his anger at not being informed about his “decision” to enter the tournament known. Harry seemed angry as well, but didn’t stick around to fight. He had made a pretty hasty retreat to his dorm, and she thought that he may need to be alone right now. So she let him be.

The look on Harry’s face when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire and his immediate reaction afterward had been more than enough proof to Hermione that there was no way that he had entered himself into the tournament. 

But Ron. 

Well...he had a bit of a temper. She had been on the receiving end of it herself many times. The previous year when he believed that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers had been among their worst fights. Honestly, she wasn’t certain that their friendship would have recovered by this point if they hadn’t found out that Scabbers was actually a murderer who handed Harry’s parents over to Voldemort on a silver platter. 

Ron had many good qualities. But his temper and his pride were his Achilles heel. She saw him retreat up the stairs as well - too angry to enjoy the party. 

With Harry and Ron both gone, she made the easy decision to call it a night and leave the party as well. 

Before leaving, she did a quick scan of the room and found Fred surrounded by a massive crowd. He was in his element - entertaining the crowd and laughing loudly, his face alight with pure joy. In that moment, she was struck by how handsome he was. 

She had always known that he was a good looking wizard, of course. He and George both. But in that moment...his eyes shone bright with happiness, his smile wide and carefree...honestly, he was beautiful. 

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. 

No.  _ Absolutely not, Hermione.  _

She had, of course, had crushes before. But they had been completely juvenile. Lockhart quickly came to mind as the prime example of that. But this was different. For one thing, he was one of her best friends' brothers. 

For another, well, he looked like  _ that.  _ And he was popular. Everyone liked the Weasley twins - they were charismatic, athletic, talented, and smart. But there was more to him than that. 

He was loyal and brave. Kind and caring. Willing to go out of his way to help others. He had taken her to the kitchens to meet the Hogwarts house-elves, for Merlin’s sake. 

And in the few instances they had spent time alone together in the library, she had never felt more comfortable here at Hogwarts. She couldn’t explain it, not even to herself. 

But she knew better than this. She was very aware of who she was and her flaws. She was a know-it-all and a swot whose looks could be described as average, at best. Not that she was ever really concerned about her looks - she couldn’t find the effort to care about beauty charms the way that Lavender and Parvati did - but it was the truth. There was no chance that he would be interested in her in that way. And she would just embarrass herself.

She had wanted to go talk to him before she left, but now that was  _ entirely _ out of the question. 

She  _ clearly  _ couldn’t be trusted. 

She had been staring. He must have felt someone watching him because he looked up and caught her eye. She blinked owlishly before coming to her senses. She gave him an awkward little wave, ducked her head, and moved faster than she thought possible through the crowd to the safety of her dorm. 


	8. Breathe

**November 1, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Harry looked at her and shrugged. His hair was even more of a disaster than usual and he had dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all. 

“We can avoid the Great Hall if you’d rather. Maybe we could go for a walk around the lake instead of going to breakfast? I went down there earlier and grabbed a few things for us to eat.” She held out a muffin to him, waving it enticingly in front of his face. 

Though he looked like he was trying to fight it, he gave her a small smile and grabbed the muffin out of her hand. She took that as a positive response, so she looped her arm through his and led him out of the portrait hole, through the castle, and out to the grounds. 

Thankfully, it was still pretty early and they were able to avoid running into anyone. They walked in silence for quite some time. 

“Why do these things always happen to me, Hermione?” Harry finally said, breaking the silence. “You know that I didn’t put my name in, right?”

“Of course I do, Harry,” Hermione quickly reassured him. “Your reaction to your name being called should be proof enough for anyone to believe that.”

“So why is Ron being such an - “

Hermione cut him off, laughing. “Oh, Harry. Surely you remember the Firebolt and Scabbers incidents from last year?” She sobered before continuing. “Listen, I would be surprised if Ron actually believes that you put your name into the Goblet.”

“Then why is he acting like this?”

“Honestly, I think he may be jealous.”

“Jealous?!” Harry snapped as his eyebrows rose high on his forehead. “Why would he be jealous?”

“Well, as you mentioned...these things do tend to happen to you, Harry.”

“I didn’t ask for this,” he snapped at her. Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself. She knew that he was stressed and didn’t mean to take it out on her. But it still hurt and made her instinctively want to fight back. 

“I know you didn’t, Harry,” she responded with a sigh. “I’m on your side, I promise. I just think that he sees it as one more way that you can gain more fame, and he may want some of that for himself. Maybe not fame specifically, but notoriety - something that would give him the chance to stand out from you and his brothers.”

Harry opened his mouth to respond again, but she held up her hand and cut him off. 

“I’m not saying that it’s fair or rational for him to be behaving this way. Just give him a few days. Maybe he will calm down and this will all blow over quickly.” Harry gave her a skeptical look which caused her to laugh. “We can hope, anyway, right?”

He nodded and looked up at the sky. “I should write to Padfoot and let him know. But I worry that he is going to do something reckless when he hears about this. He is heading back here just because my scar hurt once. Imagine what he will do with this information. My name ended up in the Goblet somehow, and I didn’t put it in there. Someone did though, and that makes me wonder why.”

Hermione nodded, sharing his concern. “You should still write to him, though. This won’t stay quiet for long and he will hear about it either way. I’m sure he would rather hear it from you first, if possible.”

“You’re right. I will write him a letter later today.”

“Did they tell you anything else about the tournament last night?” Hermione asked quietly. 

“Just that the first task is coming up soon - November 24 - and that they aren’t going to tell us what we are up against. And that we will only be able to have our wands with us.”

Hermione gaped. “They’re not even telling you what to expect?!”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Supposedly, it’s because they want to test our daring.”

\------ .F.W. ------

The extra attention was going to take some getting used to. Not that it was bad necessarily, but it was certainly different.

He and George had always had a good number of friends in Gryffindor - being members of the quidditch team had helped with that. And they had also become pretty well known to students outside of their own house over the years for their pranks. But he had never had this many people come up to him just to say good morning at breakfast. 

It was a little disconcerting if he was being honest. 

Or, maybe it was just too early in the morning. It would likely be far more fun to have the spotlight on him  _ after _ he had the time to actually wake up and eat something. 

And a sulky little brother was certainly not helping things. Ron was in a mood, and it was quickly starting to bother him. 

“Why don’t you just tell us what’s bothering you? Your pouting is not doing any of us any favors.”

“Oh, shut it,” Ron practically growled back in response. 

“None of that now, ickle Ronniekins,” Fred replied. “If you’re going to hang around with us, you need to not be such a prat. Speaking of which...why _ are _ you sitting with us? Where are Harry and Hermione?”

Ron grumbled something indiscernible under his breath, glaring down at the table as if it had personally offended him. Fred shared an incredulous look with George. Apparently, he didn’t catch that either. 

“Come again? Didn’t quite catch that, little brother.”

“Not sure where Hermione is. Probably with Harry. But since I’m not speaking to Harry, I’m not likely to hang around her either right now when they are together, am I?”

“And  _ why  _ are you not speaking to Harry?”

“He entered the tournament and didn’t tell me! We could have both entered, but he decided to go it alone -  _ the great Harry Potter _ , and all that.”

Fred just stared at his little brother, at a loss of what to say. He did realize…

“You do realize that Fred and I entered the tournament and didn’t tell you about it, right?” George asked with a huff.

“Well, yes. But that’s different... “

“And you also realize that Harry didn’t enter his name into the Goblet, yeah?” Fred cut him off, pointing his fork at him. 

“Of course he did,” Ron grumbled angrily.

“I don’t think he did. You didn’t see him last night after his name was called. He was a right mess while we were meeting with everyone after the names were announced.”

“I don’t know how you can believe him and take his side over mine.”

“It’s not about taking sides, Ron. But if you want to ruin your friendships, who are we to stand in your way? Just don’t loop us into this fight with you,” Fred said with a tone of finality. 

Ron was being an idiot. How he could be ok with Fred entering the tournament and being chosen, but not Harry, was something that he could not wrap his mind around. 

At least he had made it through breakfast without a Howler from mum. He wondered how long his good luck would last with that.

\------ .F.W. ------

Until just after dinner time. That’s how long his Howler-free luck lasted. 

At least he had enough good luck that Errol had not arrived during a meal. While the common room was pretty full, it was nothing to how many people would have witnessed this had it arrived just an hour sooner. 

_ FREDERICK GIDEON WEASLEY!  _

_ HOW DARE YOU BLATANTLY DISREGARD THE TOURNAMENT RULES AND ENTER WHEN YOU ARE UNDERAGE. YOU AND GEORGE SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES FOR DOING SOMETHING SO RECKLESS AND DANGEROUS.  _

_ YOU ARE LUCKY THAT YOU HAVE NOT BEEN EXPELLED. PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE AND YOU WILL BE WISHING THAT THE CONSEQUENCE WOULD BE JUST ANOTHER HOWLER.  _

The common room was deadly quiet when the Howler crumbled itself up and burst into flames before turning to ash, which George helpfully cleaned up with a flick of his wand. They shared a look before they doubled over laughing. 

**November 2, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

It was like their second year all over again. 

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t  _ quite _ that bad. This time no one thought that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin and had released a monster into the castle with the intent of killing muggle-borns, at least. 

But the fallout of Harry being selected as a champion wasn’t good, either. 

It seemed that a solid majority of their peers thought, like Ron, that Harry had put his name into the Goblet himself. Considering that Fred had been underage and had entered and been chosen as champion, she could at least partially understand where they were coming from.

But the fact that Harry had been chosen as a  _ fourth _ champion was what most people seemed to be taking issue with. Which she couldn’t understand. 

There was absolutely no way that Harry could have convinced the Goblet to choose him as an additional champion. Harry was brilliant, but the kind of magic that would have needed to be performed to accomplish something like that was well beyond both of their capabilities. Likely beyond the capabilities of anyone at Hogwarts, really, except the professors. 

Why would someone have done that? 

Something wasn’t adding up, and it made Hermione very anxious. 

**November 7, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

Recruiting for S.P.E.W. was not going nearly as well as she had hoped it would. She really shouldn’t have been surprised. No one had seemed to care when it came out that Hogwarts had a very large number of house-elves working in the castle, after all. 

But this was worse than she thought it would be. 

In the month and a half since the organization had been founded, they had only gotten up to four members. That was it. And it was only three members if she didn’t count herself. Harry and Ron had agreed to join, reluctantly, the first night she brought it up to them. Neville was the other member, and she was a little embarrassed to say that he may have only agreed to join because he seemed afraid due to her being so worked up when she had discussed it with him. 

She needed more members to be able to have a bigger impact. But no matter what she said, no one seemed to care. And what was worse, they had started laughing at her instead of ignoring her as they previously had. 

The mocking laughter normally wouldn’t bother her. Ok, maybe it would a little, but not nearly as much as it would have a few years ago. But this was important and it wasn’t a laughing matter. The lives of other magical beings could be drastically improved with the help of her organization if they could reach the right people, and her fellow students were mocking it. 

Her shoulders slumped in defeat as the latest group that she approached began laughing at her recruitment pitch. She was debating giving up for the night and just going to bed when she felt a hand on her shoulder. 

“How much to join, Hermione?” Fred asked, perhaps a little louder than was necessary. Which made her think that this was more of an act than anything. She just hoped that it would not be a joke made at her expense. 

She had made a point to avoid him after she had come to the realization that she fancied him on Halloween. Some Gryffindor she was. She could feel a blush rising on her cheeks and she did her best to suppress it but was sure that it wasn’t working. She could feel every eye in the common room on them. 

“Two sickles,” she replied as she turned to look at him, squaring her shoulders and she held out the collection tin. “The cost includes a badge as well.”

He dug in the pocket for a moment, then pulled out two sickles and made a show of putting them into the tin. She passed him the membership list, which he signed his name to, and handed him a badge, which he immediately pinned to his jumper with a grin. 

“Thanks, Hermione,” he smiled brightly at her before going back to sit with George, who she noticed was looking at her with a mischievous glint in his eye that worried her. 

It surprised her when a small group of second years came up to her, asking to join as well. She happily handed them their badges and let them add themselves to the membership list. As she sent the last of them away, she caught Fred’s eye for a moment and gave him a small smile in thanks, to which he winked in reply.


	9. Rise

**November 13, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

Her teeth had always been one of her biggest insecurities. Hearing Professor Snape say that he saw no difference in their size after she had gotten caught in the crossfire and hit with a jinx during a duel between Harry and Malfoy had been absolutely mortifying.

Her teeth had grown past her chin by that point, for Merlin’s sake. Hadn’t that been humiliating enough? Why the need to add insult to injury?

So, when Madam Pomfrey asked her to let her know when her teeth were back to their normal size when she shrank her teeth back down, she let her keep going a little more to make her teeth even sized. 

Was it a bit vain? Sure. She was willing to admit that.

Did she regret it? _Not at all._

\------ .F.W. ------

 _The Weighing of the Wands._ Fred couldn’t help but chuckle. It all sounded so pretentious. 

He could understand the practicality of needing to check that all of their wands were working as they should. Their wands were all that they were going to be allowed to have on them for the first task, after all.

But was it necessary to have the full panel of judges _and_ the press in the room?

Harry had been cornered and dragged off by Rita Skeeter for an interview the moment that he walked into the room. The woman was a menace, and he was selfishly glad that Harry and Krum were far more interesting to her than he was. As much as he liked being the center of attention at times, he certainly didn’t feel any desire to be included in Skeeter’s articles. 

The photoshoot had been a bit of a laugh, at least. The photographer seemed incredibly taken with Fleur, the Beauxbatons champion. She, on the other hand, had not seemed interested in the slightest. And Skeeter had repeatedly tried to drag Harry front and center for more photos. It had all been a bit of a mess by the end. 

As the photoshoot came to an end and everyone was packing up, he noticed Skeeter making a beeline toward Harry again, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here. 

Fred took pity on Harry and stepped in front of her before she could reach him, effectively cutting her off. “Come on, mate, let’s go grab some dinner!” He slung an arm around Harry’s shoulders and led him away from the room. 

“Thanks, Fred. I owe you one.”

Fred waved his other hand at him dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. Happy to put a damper on her plans, honestly.”

Harry nodded in agreement. Fred noticed him open and close his mouth a few times as if he wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure how. 

“You can just spit it out, you know. Whatever it is you want to say.”

Harry looked embarrassed at having been caught but nodded again.

“I...I just wanted to apologize. I know that you worked really hard to find a way to get into the tournament and it feels like all everyone is talking about is me being chosen as well.”

“None of that is your fault, you do realize that, right? So there’s no real reason for you to apologize.”

“I guess so...”

“Well, I _know_ so,” he cut him off with finality. “So really. No need to apologize. But while we’re on the topic of apologies...sorry that Ron is being such a wanker. Georgie and I have tried reasoning with him, but he is being a right prat about everything right now and won’t listen. He’ll come around eventually.”

**November 16, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

“Stunningly pretty? _Her_? What did they judge her against - a chipmunk?”

Hermione held her head up high and squared her shoulders. There was absolutely no way that she would allow Pansy Parkinson’s insults to get under her skin. At least not in front of her. And especially when said insults didn’t even hold weight anymore. 

Thanks - in an odd way - to Malfoy’s jinx, her teeth were a perfectly normal size now, after all. 

“Ignore it,” she muttered to Harry as they passed the group of Slytherin girls in the corridor. She could tell that he was angry and possibly ready to explode. “Just ignore it, Harry.”

Rita Skeeter’s article had been hardest on Harry, of course. The cow had managed to stretch what few words Harry admitted to saying into an article that covered nearly three full pages of the Prophet. But _apparently_ Colin Creevy had agreed to talk to Skeeter for some reason and had brought Hermione up, and she had been painted as Harry’s love interest.

“How can you be so calm about all of this, Hermione?”

“Because I know that the article is complete rubbish,” she replied. “You said you didn’t give her more than a few words in response to her questions and look how much she took liberties with that. She barely mentioned Krum and Fleur, and she didn’t mention Fred at all. Plus, she made us out to be romantically involved, which is _absolutely ridiculous_.”

“Ouch. Thanks, Hermione…”

“Oh, you know what I mean,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes at him. “We are practically siblings.”

Harry laughed at that, which made Hermione smile. He had been so tense the past few days and she was constantly worried that he would snap and do or say something stupid to the wrong person and get in real trouble. 

“I suppose that is a valid point. And when you put it that way…”

“Gross, isn't it?”

“Very,” he agreed. 

\------ .F.W. ------

It didn’t bother him that he had not been mentioned in the article. He felt like he had dodged a bludger, as a matter of fact. But something about the article made him feel uneasy. He just couldn’t figure out what it was.

He felt bad for Harry, of course. He couldn’t even leave his room without having some snide remark thrown his way. 

And he had heard that Hermione had been having a rough go of it, too. Some of the things that Ron had said the Slytherins in their year were saying about her were absolutely terrible. So, if the Slytherins found that their morning pitchers of pumpkin juice had been mixed with Babbling Beverage, well…

He didn’t know anything about that. And the house-elves didn’t either. 

**November 19, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

“Ignore it, Harry,” she reminded him for what must have been the hundredth time that day. 

Draco Malfoy was quickly becoming the bane of her existence. He had always been a prat, of course. She had even punched him the year before. And she was _really_ tempted to do it again. 

The _Potter Stinks!_ badges that he had made and had all the Slytherins wearing had been one thing. That they had now been distributed to students in every house was excessive. And Harry was not taking it well. 

“Those badges are quite silly, aren’t they?” 

Hermione turned her head to the source of the airy voice, frowning. “Oh, I don’t think that they’re silly,” she responded, perhaps a little more harshly than she normally would. But it had been a long day.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that they’re a bit pointless, aren’t they?”

“Well yes, I suppose so,” she conceded, studying the girl. She was a Ravenclaw. She didn’t recognize her from their year, so she must have been a younger student. The girl was bright and airy in her demeanor and walked as if she was floating on air. 

“Oh good - I’m glad we agree,” the girl nodded. “I’m Luna Lovegood.”

“Hermione Granger.”

“Harry Potter.”

“Oh, I know who you both are,” she replied, smiling at Harry and Hermione brightly. 

“Alright...well, it was nice meeting you Luna, but - ” Hermione started but was cut off by the blonde.

“I just wanted to let you know that I support you, Harry Potter. The Wrackspurts buzzing around your head tell me that you need to know that you have supporters, too. Best that you clear those up before the first task, you know.” She gave them one last smile before she turned and skipped off in the opposite direction. 

“Hermione...what is a Wrackspurt?”

“I have no idea,” she responded with a shake of her head. 

“Well, that was...interesting? At least there is another person on my side, I guess,” Harry said, smiling.

“I don’t know, Harry. She seemed a bit...odd?”

Harry shrugged. “Who am I to judge? Besides, it’s not like I can be picky with friends these days. Most of the school hates me. She seemed nice.”

“Harry, don’t you think it’s time you talked to Ron?”

“No, Hermione.”

“But you miss him. And I _know_ that he misses you too.” Harry raised an incredulous eyebrow at her. “Really. He does.”

“It doesn’t matter. Until he realizes that I didn’t enter the tournament, it’s not going to happen, Hermione, so please just drop it.”

She sighed but nodded, hating herself a little for giving in that quickly. But fighting with Harry about it right now _really_ wouldn’t help anything, so she would give him more time.

**November 22, 1994**

\------ .F.W. ------

“Time to wake up, Freddie!”

Fred groaned and rolled over. Good Godric, it was much too early for this. Sundays were meant for a good lie-in, weren’t they?

George, not to be deterred, yanked open the curtains around his bed and flung himself down, tackling him. 

“Can’t. Breath. Georgie!” 

He felt George chuckle before he moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Fred sat up as well, breathing deeply now that he could again.

“Come on, Freddie. I was sent to come and wake you. Ronniekins said something about us all heading out to the grounds together to meet up with Charlie.”

“Charlie’s here?” he asked, surprised but excited. They rarely got to see their second eldest brother. His work in Romania tended to keep him busy.

George shrugged. “That’s what Ron said, anyway. Don’t know why he would make something like that up. Now - get your arse up and dressed. If you’re not down in the common room in five minutes…”

“Yeah, yeah - I’m getting up. No need for threats.”

George grinned with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Not a threat. A promise. See you down there!”

Fred watched his twin bound out of the room and out of sight before dragging himself out of bed and starting to dress. As he got ready for the day, his thoughts began to wander. 

Charlie was here. That was a little odd. Charlie rarely even made it home for Christmas. 

Maybe he came to watch the first task. If so, he was excited that his brother would be there to support him. But it didn’t seem right that he would have arrived so early. 

The first task wasn’t happening until two days from now. 

Surely he would have gone to visit their parents instead of coming here that far in advance. He had certainly not come to visit them at Hogwarts since he had finished school. His work on the dragon reserve kept him so busy that he seldom had the chance to visit and take time away from work...

Wait. What if that meant...

 _Shite_.


	10. Resolve

**November 22, 1994 (Continued)**

\------ .F.W. ------

Dragons. 

_Bloody Hell_. 

The first task had something to do with _dragons_. It had to. He didn’t know exactly what it would entail, but there was no other reason he could think of that Charlie would be here now.

Sure, Charlie may have simply come to support him and watch a task if he could get the time off for a day. But he was already here and there were still _two full days_ before the first task. That couldn’t be a coincidence. 

Which raised the very important question of how the hell he was supposed to fight a bloody dragon. He may not be an expert on dragons like Charlie was, but he was fairly certain he wouldn’t be able to take one out with a stunner. 

He sat back down on the edge of his bed and scrubbed his hands down his face. _What was he going to do?_

For the first time, he wondered if entering the tournament had been a huge mistake. 

\------ .H.G. ------

Hermione waited for Harry in the common room. She was anxious to hear about how his meetings with both Hagrid and Sirius the night before had gone. 

A letter had been delivered to Harry from Sirius arranging a meeting between the two in the common room somehow. She didn’t know the details as to how Sirius had planned on making that happen but had helped clear out the room before she went to bed to ensure that the two had privacy. Since Sirius was still _technically_ a wanted murderer and escaped convict, it wouldn’t do to have someone see him in Gryffindor Tower. 

And Hagrid had requested a last-minute meeting with Harry for late last night as well, stating that it was important, but not saying much else. She was equally as curious to hear what that had been about. 

The Weasleys had all headed out together a little while ago now, and she was alone. She had noticed that Fred looked ill, and hoped that he was alright. The first task was coming up in just a few days, and it would put him at a definite disadvantage if he were sick. 

Finally, she heard footsteps on the stairs and looked up to see Harry enter the common room. He slowly walked over to the sofa and sank into the seat next to her. She took a second to study him. Like Fred, he looked ill. His face was pale and he had dark circles under his eyes that made it obvious that he had not slept well.

“Harry, are you alright?” 

Harry sat silent for a moment and then let out a harsh breath. “Dragons, Hermione.”

“What? I’m not sure that I understand - “

“The first task. The first task involves _bloody_ _dragons_.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and his head fell into his hands. “How the hell am I going to face a dragon, Hermione?”

“Dragons? How do you know? I thought that you lot weren’t being told what the task was.”

“We weren’t. Not officially, anyway. That’s what Hagrid wanted to show me last night. He took Madame Maxime to see them and had me follow behind them in the invisibility cloak. I’m sure that she’ll tell Fleur what the task is. And I ran into Karkaroff on my way back up to the castle while he was sneaking around the enclosure as well - so Krum will know now, too.”

“Do you think Fred knows?” Hermione asked quietly. Harry looked up and gave her a calculating look.

“I’m not sure, but I would assume so. Charlie was one of the Dragon Keepers working with them last night. If he doesn’t, I would be surprised. But I’ll talk to him later, just in case. It’s only fair that we all know at this point.”

Hermione nodded. _Dragons_. Well, that was certainly going to be a challenge. 

“Were you able to ask Sirius if he knew of anything that would help you get past a dragon?”

Harry let out another harsh breath and groaned. “Yes, but I wasn’t able to get an answer. He was about to tell me when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and made him disconnect the Floo call. He mentioned that a simple charm would do, but I can’t think of any that Flitwick has mentioned that would help against a dragon, can you?”

She thought about that for a moment, then shook her head. “No, but it does give us a place to start. Let’s go eat some breakfast and then head to the library and see if we can find anything that will be helpful.”

\------ .F.W. ------

Charlie claimed that he was just here to watch the first task and didn’t have any idea as to what it was. 

Fred knew that he was lying. 

Pranking as much as he and George did had helped them become quite good at stretching the truth when they needed to. It had also made them quite good at reading others. And since Charlie was their brother, Fred was aware of many of his tells. 

So, he was pretty confident in his guess that the first task involved dragons. Other than that, it was anyone’s guess if they would have to do anything else. As if facing off against a dragon wouldn’t be difficult enough…

He had immediately made the decision to share his suspicions about the first task with Harry. It hadn’t even crossed his mind not to. He was fairly certain that if the roles were reversed that Harry would tell him as well. 

So, he went looking for him. 

Times like these _really_ made him miss the Marauder’s Map.

He finally found Harry in the library just as Hermione joined him, levitating a large stack of books behind her. 

“Fred!” she called, waving him over to join them.

He and Harry shared a look. “I know what the first task is,” they both blurted out at the same time. 

Despite the tension, he couldn’t help but let out a laugh. He took a look at the stack of books that Hermione was now arranging on the table. They were all about dragons. 

“Well, based on your choice of reading material, it seems like we have both come to the same conclusion as to what the task is,” Fred said, picking up and examining the cover of the book that Harry had just discarded. “How did you find out?”

“Hagrid,” Harry replied. “You?”

“Well, I wasn’t completely sure. But Charlie is here, and while he claims that it is just to watch the first task, that doesn’t explain why he arrived two days early. He never gets time off like that, so I thought it was suspicious and that the two might be related. And since he works on a dragon reserve, well...Do you know if the others know?”

“Pretty sure,” Harry replied. “Madame Maxime was there and I know that she saw the dragons. And I saw Karkaroff sneaking around as well. They would have told their champions.”

Fred nodded in agreement. “Good. As much as I want to win, now that I know what we are in for I wouldn’t want to go in blind. I’m glad that we all know.”

“Want to join us?” Hermione asked as she sat down, finally done with arranging the books. 

“Can’t. Have to go meet back up with everyone. I just snuck off to try to find Harry here to make sure that he knew what was going on,” he replied with a shrug. He may be nervous beyond belief, but he didn’t want anyone else to know. He would be just fine on his own. Plus, he knew that George would help him later.

“Ok...well, if you change your mind, you know where to find us,” Hermione replied. “We’ll probably be here a while.”

**November 23, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

“Hermione, I need you to help me,” Harry said, as he clutched his side. He was completely disheveled and looked like he had run to find her. 

“What do you think I’ve been trying to do, Harry?” she replied, gesturing around the table to the stacks of books and the many rolls of parchment covered in her notes. 

How else could she be helping him? Until they figured out what simple charm they actually needed, research was their best option. The task was tomorrow. They had to find _something_. 

“Sorry. What I meant was, I need you to help me learn how to do the summoning charm.”

“What? Why? Surely the extra homework for charms can wait, Harry. I think getting you through the first task alive is a little more important right now. I’m sure Professor Flitwick will understand.” 

“Hermione, how far of a distance can you be away from an object and still be able to summon it?”

“Well, it should work no matter the distance as long as you concentrate enough,” she answered, still not sure where this was going. How was this going to help him against a dragon?

“Great. Then it should work. I need to be able to do the summoning charm so that I can summon my Firebolt, which I can use to get past the dragon.”

Hermione gaped. That had not been what she was expecting. But it would certainly get the job done.

“Alright. Let’s find Professor Flitwick to see if he will let us use the Charms classroom. I’m sure he still has those pillows that we were using in class to practice with.”

“Think I can perfect the charm by tomorrow morning?”

“You’d better!” she said as she hoisted her bag over her shoulder and grabbed Harry’s forearm, dragging him from the library. “Let’s go.”


	11. Endure

**November 24, 1994**

\------ .H.G. ------

“I think that you’ve got it, Harry!” Hermione said excitedly, before yawning. It was two in the morning and they had been at it for hours now, stopping only briefly for a quick dinner break. 

Harry still looked nervous, even though he was surrounded by a large pile of objects that he had been summoning from around the room. 

“This stuff was all close, though. My Firebolt will be in the castle. Do you think it will still work?”

“It will, Harry. As long as you concentrate on it, it’ll come to you,” Hermione said, standing up and offering Harry a hand to help him up as well. “Come on, you need to try to get some sleep.”

He accepted her hand and let her pull him to his feet. He then wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly to him.

“Thank you, Hermione,” Harry said, “I at least have a chance of surviving this task now.”

She was surprised by the embrace. While they were very close, it was rare that Harry initiated physical contact like this. She suspected that it had to do with his home life growing up, though she would never ask about it. She knew that if it was something that he wanted or needed to talk about, he would open up when he was ready. He never had responded well to being pushed to talk. 

Hermione stepped out of the embrace but grabbed his forearm and started walking toward the door. “Harry Potter, if you manage to not survive the task tomorrow, I will be incredibly cross with you,” she said with a teasing smile as she looped her arm through his. “Now really, let’s go get some sleep. You need it.”

\------ .F.W. ------

The day had gone by very fast. The morning lessons had passed by in a blur and before he knew it, McGonagall had come to collect him and Harry from the Gryffindor table at lunch. 

He had a plan, of course. He and George had worked on it together and he had practised quite a bit the day before. It had certainly given him more confidence to know what he would do when facing off against the dragon. He was excited for the task again, but he could admit, at least to himself, that he was nervous as well. 

McGonagall walked them to a tent that had been set up near a cluster of trees, giving them a pep talk along that way. At least that is what he supposed she was trying to do. Really, she sounded more nervous than he was and she wouldn’t be the one to face a dragon today.

She gave them one last tight-lipped smile and wished them both luck when they reached the entrance to the tent, before leaving them. Fred held the flap of the tent open, bowed jokingly to Harry, and gestured for him to enter ahead of him, following closely behind. 

“Wonderful - our Hogwarts champions have joined us. Everyone gather ‘round!” 

Bagman was obviously excited and ready to get things started. Fred made a mental note to corner him after the task - he and George had sent him several owls, none of which had been returned. But he couldn’t worry about that right now. 

Bagman and Crouch started discussing some general things about the task and how everything would work. Although Fred knew that he should be paying attention, his mind kept wandering. It certainly didn’t help that they could now hear the crowd approaching the seating area that lay beyond the tent. He could tell that they were excited about the task, which only helped to fuel his own excitement and adrenaline. 

The loud clearing of a throat brought him back to reality inside the tent. “Right. Sorry - paying attention now...” He gave a small apologetic smile and bounced on the balls of his feet, before reaching into the bag that was presented to him. He pulled out a miniature figure of a dragon, taking note of the small number one that was marked on it. 

Once everyone had drawn their dragons, Crouch went over the final order and instructions. After informing the champions that they would need to collect a golden egg from the dragons and that they were to wait until a cannon sounded before coming out for their turns, Bagman and Crouch left the tent to join the heads of each school in the judges’ section for the task.

Fred was glad that he would be going first. Looking at the other champions, it was obvious that the others were not nearly as excited about this task as he was. Sure, he had some nerves - who wouldn’t when they would be facing off against a dragon? - but they all looked so resigned and serious. Fleur and Krum paced the tent in their anxiety while Harry stood next to him, looking like he may vomit at any moment. He was thankful when the cannon indicating that he should leave the tent finally sounded. He worried that if he had to be in there around the others for too long that he may go crazy. 

He exited the tent and made his way up the path to the enclosure, where Charlie directed him where to go and gave him what he assumed was meant to be a reassuring pat on the shoulder. It would have been more reassuring had Charlie not looked as though he was sending him to his death. 

Finally, a gate swung open and Fred walked forward, wand in hand. A short moment later he found himself facing a much larger version of the Swedish Short-Snout that he had drawn from the bag. The dragon let out a mighty roar and Fred felt like his legs had turned to lead. In fact, his whole body seemed to be screaming at him to turn around and run the other way. 

Suddenly, this task did not seem nearly as exciting and fun as it had a minute ago. 

\------ .H.G. ------

Just hearing that the task was going to involve dragons had been bad. Hermione had not been able to stop her brain from running through all of the worst-case scenarios that could happen to the champions during this task. Of course, Harry and Fred had been at the forefront of her imagination for these scenarios, and it had not been pretty. It wasn’t that she didn’t have faith in their abilities - she knew that they were both talented wizards. It was just that so many things could go wrong when facing a live magical creature. Especially one as dangerous as a dragon. 

Seeing this, though...this was so much worse than she had imagined. She knew that she would be anxious for the champions, especially her friends. But seeing the dragons live and up close…

She felt a shudder run through her body as she watched Fred step forward into the enclosure. Of course he would be up first. She wondered if he had volunteered to go first. It certainly seemed like something he would do.

She felt George tense next to her as the dragon roared a warning greeting to Fred. Without thinking, she grabbed his hand and held it tightly. Neither of them looked at each other, but she felt him squeeze her hand back in what she assumed was thanks. Of course, he likely didn’t realize how much comfort he would provide her with as well. Although, comfort may be too strong of a word. She wasn’t sure that there was any comfort or reassurance that could take place right now - not until this was over. 

“Why isn’t he doing anything?” Ron hissed from her other side. 

“Shut up, Ron,” Hermione and George hissed back in unison without looking away from Fred. She heard Ron grumble something under his breath, but found that she couldn’t bring herself to care enough at the moment to try to understand what he had said. 

“He’ll be fine, you know,” came a dreamy voice from the other side of Ron. Hermione had been quite surprised when Luna had asked to sit with them. She had only met her that one time with Harry, after all. But Luna and Ginny were in the same year and seemed to get on alright, so she supposed it wasn’t too strange of a request. “There aren’t any Nargles around him, which is a very good sign.”

Hermione could not help the breath of relief that came out when Fred finally moved. It seemed like he had been standing still, perhaps in shock, for hours - though it had likely been less than thirty seconds. 

The relief didn’t last long, though. 

She watched as he transfigured one of the large rocks around the enclosure into what appeared to be a replica of a large hawk. He directed the decoy in a flight around the dragon’s head, occasionally tapping the side of its snout with the bird’s beak before moving it just out of reach. It was successful at getting the attention of the dragon. The decoy was just annoying enough that the dragon moved slowly away from the nest to either get away from it or get close enough to dispose of it. She held her breath as she watched him sprint across the gap between the dragon and himself to get to the golden egg. 

Unfortunately, the dragon also caught his movement. 

She screamed and clung onto George’s hand tighter as the dragon turned back to Fred and started breathing fire at him as he attempted to dodge the flames as he made his way closer to his goal. 

\------ .F.W. ------

Well, it had been a good plan. And it had been working. Until it wasn’t. 

_Shite_. 

Fred dove behind a giant rock, blocking the flames that the dragon had sent his way. He knew that he needed to keep moving. At this point, it was his only hope of making it out of there with the egg. If he stayed still for too long, he knew that the dragon would make quick work of him. But if he could keep moving and not make himself an easy target...and if he could pull off another distraction...well, he still might have a chance. 

He only gave himself a moment to catch his breath before sprinting forward again, sending a well-aimed _Reducto_ at a boulder on the other side of the enclosure, hoping that the blast would provide him with the distraction he needed. He changed course as dragon fire hurled his way again. 

Pain. Heat. 

He took a chance and dove behind another large rock and quickly realized that almost the entire left side of his jacket was on fire. He doused the flames with a quick _Aguamenti_ and took off again, ignoring the pain and stiffness that remained. That was a problem for later. 

He was close now - no more than ten meters away from the nest that the dragon had been guarding. Luckily, while the dragon had been shooting fire at him, it had not returned to its nest after it had given up its attempt to get to the decoy bird. He closed the distance quickly, sprinting as fast as he could, and grabbed the golden egg when he reached the nest. He continued to run to the gate on the other side of the nest as the dragon keepers ran forward to subdue their charge.

As he caught his breath, leaning against a wall for support, it was like someone turned up the volume in the enclosure. Applause and shouts of support and encouragement could be heard and he tried to wave in acknowledgment, but that plan was quickly forgotten by the sheer pain that came from just trying to lift his left arm. He had almost forgotten about his injury, but now that his adrenaline had dropped, the pain was a consistent reminder. 

“Great job, Mr Weasley,” McGonagall said with a tight smile. “Let’s get you checked out before they give you your scores.”

He nodded and let her escort him out of the enclosure to the medical tent where Madam Pomfrey gave him a potion for the pain and before directing him to remove his jacket and shirt so that she could better assess the damage that had been done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, loves! I'm so sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out to you all. Real-life has been busy, and I may have bitten off more than I could chew in February with fests...so I got a bit behind. While I can't promise weekly updates at this point, I will do everything I can to make sure you don't have to wait as long for the next chapter.


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